Crisis resolution in 100-day plan ?
- The People's Chronicle Editorial :: July 02, 2024 -
UNFAZED by the growing discontentment of the people, who are now openly asking ministers and MLAs of the ruling party to resign if they are incapable of resolving the nearly 14-month-long ethnic crisis in Manipur, chief minister N Biren Singh recently stated that the Central government has started having "positive discussions" on the conflict in Manipur and it is a "great achievement" that resolution of the crisis is part of the 100-day plan of the new National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.
Coming a day after the mass rally organised by Coordinating Committee on Manipur Integrity (COCOMI) in Imphal under the banner of 'Manipur Kanba Khongchat' or Save Manipur Rally, the statement of the chief minister had shown that he is least bothered about the speculation doing the rounds of a possible leadership change in crisis-hit Manipur.
When he said, "Staying on as Chief Minister or resigning is not in my hands," and his "focus is on solving the problem in the state" while speaking to a news channel in response to media reports of some of MLAs from his own party and its allies pushing for his removal, then, it is crystal clear that no amount of pressure given or scathing attack launched by the opposition INDIA bloc over inept handling of the crisis is going to make the chief minister to step down.
As Biren Singh himself had stated, it is not in his hands whether he remains as the chief minister of Manipur or not.
In other words, or to put it differently in the style of COCOMI, chief minister N Biren Singh has been simply reduced to the position of a pawn in the geopolitical chessboard of government of India.
So, whether he resigns or not is not going to make any difference in the collective efforts being made for resolving the crisis until and unless the government of India changes its approach towards handling the conflict with proactive measures, not to speak of the need to change its outlook towards the people of Manipur as a whole.
Speaking of proactive measures, chief minister Biren maintained that the Central government has started having "positive discussions" on the conflict in Manipur and described inclusion of resolution of the crisis as part of the 100-day plan of the new NDA government as a "great achievement".
It is true that after Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his new cabinet were sworn in, Union Home Minister Amit Shah did chaired a high-level meeting to review the security situation in Manipur.
But the cold-shouldering of a chief minister, who is also in charge of the home department, in the security review meeting of his own state could in no way be considered as sign of "positive discussions" on the ethnic crisis in Manipur. The chief minister was not invited to the meeting despite the fact that law and order is a state subject clearly defined under the Seventh Schedule to the Constitution of India.
Thus, questioned had been raised over "treating Manipur as a non-entity" and relegating the high office of chief minister of Manipur to the position of a rubber stamp to endorse every decision taken by the Ministry of Home Affairs in New Delhi.
It is also equally true that even before the 18th Lok Sabha election, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had talked about the "goals for the next 10 years" in tune with long-term vision for economic growth of the country, and soon after taking charge for the third term, he swung into action with all the Union ministries and their respective departments for giving final touches to their 100-day action plan presentation.
But when chief minister N Biren Singh hailed inclusion of resolution of the crisis in Manipur as part of the 100-day plan of the new NDA government, one can't help but wonder when did the hew government made public its 100-day plan with resolution of Manipur crisis as one of the priorities.
Or, did the people of Manipur missed such an important announcement?
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